This invention relates to a connector connectable with a plate-like or sheet-like object such as an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) or an FFC (Flexible Flat Cable), and to a cable harness comprising the connector.
Referring to FIGS. 31 and 32, JP-A 2015-188000 (Patent Document 1) discloses a connector 900. The connector 900 is attachable to a circuit board (not shown) in a Z-direction and is connectable with a flexible printed circuit 950 which is to be inserted therein toward a negative X-direction along an X-direction. The flexible printed circuit 950 has connection portions 960. The connector 900 comprises a holding member 910, a receiving portion 915 and a plurality of terminals 920. The receiving portion 915 receives a part of the flexible printed circuit 950 when the flexible printed circuit 950 is inserted into the connector 900. Each of the terminals 920 has a lower-jaw portion 922, an upper-jaw portion 924, an intermediate portion 926 and a fixed portion 928. The upper-jaw portion 924 has a contact portion 925. The contact portion 925 is connected with the connection portion 960 of the flexible printed circuit 950 when the flexible printed circuit 950 is inserted into the connector 900. The intermediate portion 926 connects the lower-jaw portion 922 and the upper-jaw portion 924 with each other. The fixed portion 928 is soldered on a wired pattern (not shown) of a circuit board (not shown) when the connector 900 is mounted on the circuit board (not shown).
The connector 900 of Patent Document 1 is configured to be mounted on a solid circuit board. Meanwhile, there is a need for a connector to be attached to a flexible substrate such as cables, an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) or an FFC (Flexible Flat Cable). If conductive cores of cables or connection portions of an FPC are subsequently soldered to terminals of a connector when the terminals of the connector are attached thereto to assemble a cable harness, an assembly process of the cable harness is complicated. In order to simplify an assembly process of a cable harness comprising a connector, it is desired that the connector has a structure which enables its terminals to be simultaneously soldered to conductive cores of cables or connection portions of an FPC by pulsed heating method.